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Thursday, September 19, 2013

7 Weeks to ING New York City Marathon: Last Week's Training

Another big volume week is under my belt at 151 miles, and the NYC Marathon is getting ever closer. The mile repeat workout shown below on Thursday was scheduled for Wednesday, but I was feeling very fatigued in the morning and decided to put it off by a day. I felt much better on Thursday, and put together a nice cutdown, although it was on the track this time rather than the hilly route I've used for previous repeats this buildup. This workout was the last shorter and faster workout of the training block. Most training the rest of the way in will be between half-marathon pace and marathon pace. I was particularly pleased with the Sunday long run last week. My wife's parents are visiting from the Czech Republic, so we decided to go down to Bend for a few days to show them around and give me an opportunity to mix up my runs a little. Bend is at about 3600 feet, so not extremely high, but enough to make a long run a little tougher. I still managed to average 4:56 for my 4 mile push from miles 19 to 23 while maintaining an overall average of 5:58 for the 27 miles. Next week the volume will drop to 135 before going for my last week at 150 miles.

As for the half-marathon tune-up race, I have finally made a decision. After long discussions with my coach, we have decided to stick with the original plan of running San Jose on October 6th. There were a few other opportunities, but all consisted of long travel in both directions in which training would be very difficult. My original selection of San Jose was due to the extremely easy travel and ability to train through the half-marathon to ensure that I do not peak 4 weeks out of NYC. This race is the best opportunity for me to be 100% for the marathon. Thanks again for reading, and I look forward to posting again next week.